Question ZFS vs. BTRFS: Safer Choice for Dummies?

[soundtrek]

After I finally decide on which cloud storage service to subscribe to for my ~ 6TB of data (any suggested vendors ???), as a NAS newbie (dummy?), I'm torn between have a local IT guy build me a btrfs or zfs RAID redundant NAS.

If the NAS can playback a ripped DVD movie saved to an uncompressed MKV or ISO file without any latency "hiccups", read/write speed means nothing compared to data protection against bit rot. Therefore, most of what I've read (and can comprehend via my totally non-Linux newbie brain) says ZFS offers substantially better protection than btrfs.
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,124563.0.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/zfs/comments/107lhbr

https://www.reddit.com/r/btrfs/comments/1621lno

Hardware Raid is Dead and is a Bad Idea in 2022

But what scares me towards btrfs is that Synology's market presence seems far greater than QNap's. Perhaps that's to be expected as Synology's a US-based brand. However, in any case, it's bizarre that ZFS did not become the standard for home and small business NAS users who care about their data.

Furthermore, it looks like the only other ZFS brand alternative to QNap is TrueNAS. But unless my IT guy would 1.) agree to build my NAS with it and 2.) configure and set the NAS up with it for dummies like me not to accidentally “break”, then what else ends up being the most practical and safest alternative?

 

[kanewolf]

After I finally decide on which cloud storage service to subscribe to for my ~ 6TB of data (any suggested vendors ???), as a NAS newbie (dummy?), I'm torn between have a local IT guy build me a btrfs or zfs RAID redundant NAS.

If the NAS can playback a ripped DVD movie saved to an uncompressed MKV or ISO file without any latency "hiccups", read/write speed means nothing compared to data protection against bit rot. Therefore, most of what I've read (and can comprehend via my totally non-Linux newbie brain) says ZFS offers substantially better protection than btrfs.
https://hydrogenaud.io/index.php/topic,124563.0.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/zfs/comments/107lhbr

https://www.reddit.com/r/btrfs/comments/1621lno

Hardware Raid is Dead and is a Bad Idea in 2022

But what scares me towards btrfs is that Synology's market presence seems far greater than QNap's. Perhaps that's to be expected as Synology's a US-based brand. However, in any case, it's bizarre that ZFS did not become the standard for home and small business NAS users who care about their data.

Furthermore, it looks like the only other ZFS brand alternative to QNap is TrueNAS. But unless my IT guy would 1.) agree to build my NAS with it and 2.) configure and set the NAS up with it for dummies like me not to accidentally “break”, then what else ends up being the most practical and safest alternative?

The commercial NAS units usually offer multiple file system options. BTRFS may be preferred by Synology, but not not required.

 

[Misgar]

First question. How many copies do you have of your 6TB data. I'd suggest at least 3 copies, with one located off-line in a safe place to reduce the risk of Ransomware. The more copies you have, the less chance of "bit rot" ruining your day. Don't rely on RAID to protect you against "bit rot".

With only 6TB to store at the moment, you could get by with a very modest single drive NAS enclosure and an 8TB hard disk. Multi-disk NAS boxes from Synology and Qnap can get quite expensive, even before you start to populate them with drives.

I've built an number of multi-disk ZFS RAID-Z2 arrays using TrueNAS Core to gain familiarisation with the technology, but I don't regard them as primary backups, despite the fact they all contain the same data. A TrueNAS system needs a reasonably capable processor (but nothing fancy), 16GB RAM (preferably ECC) and a case big enough for a bunch of hard disks.

A commercial NAS enclosure will be much smaller and neater, but you can build a TrueNAS Core system in an old desktop computer or server for significantly less than the price of an 8-disk Synology box with no drives. You do have to get your head around the intricacies of TrueNAS configuration, but there are plenty of guides.

Although I can (in theory) survive with no data loss if two disks in each RAID-Z2 array drop dead, the main point of redundancy is for people who need always-on-line data access, where system down time would cost money or potential sales.

In a home RAID system, you're less likely to have a spare drive of the right capacity to pop into the array for immediate re-silvering. In any case, RAID repairs are not always successful. Hence the need for backups.

Regarding "hiccups" in data transmission, you should be perfectly OK playing back DVDs if your NAS is connected to the rest of your system via Gigabit Ethernet.

The only problem I can forsee is if your NAS is connected over a WiFi link to play back MKV movies on a TV in another room a long distance away, where the WiFi signal is very weak. If the transmission rate drops below 2Mbit/s at -76dBm, you may experience glitches.

As for ZFS not becoming a standard for home users, there's a thriving community of people using this and similar operating systems. These users tend to be more enthusiatic and prepared to get their hands dirty setting things up. With a Synology or Qnap box, they're off-the-shelf and pretty much everything's done for you, bar fitting the drives and choosing a few options.

https://www.truenas.com/community/

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php

https://www.qnap.com/en/operating-system/quts-hero/5.1.0

 

[USAFRet]

Regarding hiccups:

I have a QNAP TS-453a, and UB connected TR-004 4 bay pod.
Random selection of HDD, with a SATA III SSD for the system drive.
Standard gigabit LAN.

Not long after I built it up, I did a test.
2 videos out to 2 different desktop systems.
3 music streams out to different systems.
Accepting 2 different full drive Images with Macrium Reflect.

Simultaneously.

Nary a hiccup.

Some of that may have been in a RAID 5 at the time, but that RAID is now long gone.
Just regular backup/multiple copies.